By Jason Powell
Ring of Honor TV
Taped May 11 in Toronto, Ontario at Ted Reeve Arena
Aired in syndication over the weekend, available Wednesdays on Comet TV
The show opened with footage from the Global Wars pay-per-view of Adam Cole joining Bullet Club, and the faction causing the non-finish ending to the Jay Lethal vs. Colt Cabana main event… The opening video aired… Kevin Kelly and Nigel McGuinness were on commentary. They hyped the six-man tag main event and hyped images from something Bullet Club did in Dearborn, Michigan…
1. Lio Rush vs. ACH. Rush received a flat reaction, while the crowd popped for ACH. Footage aired of ACH telling Matt Sydal that he was staring his own path and becoming his own man, which was followed by a handshake and a hug.
Silas Young came out and sat in on commentary and complained about seeing ACH playing video games whenever he saw him backstage. Silas said ACH and Rush are just like a couple of video game characters or children. Young also downplayed the high spots by saying he wasn’t impressed that they could perform splits. Young said ACH is too worried about what move he will perform to impress the fans. In the end, ACH caught ACH with his Midnight Star splash for the win..
ACH defeated Lio Rush.
After the match, Silas Young entered the ring and taunted Rush until ACH shoved him away. Young backed off and started to leave, then attacked ACH once he turned his head. Young put ACH down with Misery and jawed at him… [C]
Powell’s POV: It’s good to see Young has a new feud coming out of his excellent run with Dalton Castle. His insults about ACH and Rush looking like children would be too much for a heel commentator, but they work fine coming from his curmudgeon character.
Footage aired from the May 9 event in Dearborn, Michigan of Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian defeating War Machine to win the ROH Tag Titles…
Powell’s POV: If nothing else, it was fun to watch the reaction of a guy in the front row who wasn’t paying much attention to the final cover. His head snapped and his jaw dropped when he realized it was a title change.
“The Addiction” Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian headed to the ring. Daniels heeled on Toronto for having the laziest people in the world. He also claimed that they were undefeated. The Motor City Machine Guns came out and called The Addiction “sad middle aged douchebags.” Chris Sabin pointed out that they beat the Addiction twice and challenged them to a tag title match.
Rocky Romero actually spoke by saying they couldn’t have a party without them. Trent Barreta said this is the part where they say they deserve a title shot too. He said they are the young cool team, whereas the Addiction are old. Daniels got pissed and booked a three-way match saying that they would give either team a title shot at Best in the World if they could win this match… [C]
Powell’s POV: I seriously think that’s the first time we’ve heard from RPG Vice on ROH television. They did fine. I’m still not sure if they are babyfaces or heels, but I’m content with the baby steps.
2. ROH Tag Champions The Addiction vs. Motor City Machine Guns vs. Roppongi Vice in a non-title three-way dance. The Addiction members worked over Alex Shelley heading into the break. A teaser for the Global Wars pay-per-view replay aired and showed Bobby Fish winning the ROH TV Title. [C] The Guns came back and hit their finisher on Daniels for the clean win…
The Motor City Machine Guns defeated The Addiction and Roppongi Vice in a three-way dance to earn an ROH Tag Title match at Best in the World.
Kelly hyped more on the Bullet Club and the six-man tag main event… Backstage, Roderick Strong said the way Jay Briscoe says his name makes him think that he has offended him. Strong said he should be offended because he has carried the company on his back for 13 years. Strong said Jay claims to be the franchise player, but he is a great tag team wrestler and nothing more than a mediocre singles wrestler…
Powell’s POV: The Guns stood out nicely in the three-way tag match. I was worried that it would be a spot-fest that would be more about getting the crowd to pop, but the team that earned the right to challenge for the tag titles was spotlighted nicely. I also liked the Strong promo. He’s improved this area of his game and showed good fire.
A Bullet Club graphic appeared and music played while Adam Cole and the Young Bucks spoke in front of a black brick wall about Cole joining the group. Cole said the chaos is just getting started…
Powell’s POV: I like the graphic, the unique backdrop, and the music as it helps make Bullet Club stand out in a good way.
At ringside, Matt Taven sat in with the broadcast team while Kevin Kelly questioned whether Nigel McGuinness really wanted to go with the match he was about to announce. Nigel said BJ Whitmer posted stalker footage of Steve Corino’s wife and son. Nigel said that went too far and he announced Whitmer vs. Corino in a Fight Without Honor. Kelly set up footage of Adam Page joining the Bullet Club at a live event and hanging Chris Sabin with a noose. Kelly said they couldn’t even show fans everything that Page did because of broadcast standards…
Powell’s POV: They can’t show us what Page did and apparently they can’t show us the Whitmer video either. Sigh.
Ring entrances for the main event too place…
3. Kenny Omega, Nick Jackson, and Matt Jackson vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Michael Elgin, and Yoshitatsu. Elgin was showcased early with power spots on all three opponents. Taven spoke about how he didn’t want Adam Cole in The Kingdom. He said he could see him joining Bullet Club coming a mile away because Cole was always wanting to know what the group was up to. There was some fun BC comedy with Matt Jackson performing a bunch of flips before just raking the back of Tanahashi, who was being held in the BC corner. [C]
Elgin performed a double German suplex on the Bucks. Taven said he wasn’t impressed because the two Bucks combined weight about the same as one average sized wrestler. Later, the Bucks went for the Meltzer Driver on Tanahashi, but Elgin caught Nick Jackson and powerbombed him over the top rope and onto Omega below in a cool spot.
Late in the match, Matt Jackson sprayed Yoshitatsu with a spray can. Taven asked how many fat dorks were wearing a BC shirt in their mom’s basement spraying hairspray in the air and thinking they are cool. Omega and the Bucks triple superkicked Yoshitatsu, but he kicked out. Omega followed up with the One Winged Angel and got the win.
Kenny Omega, Nick Jackson, and Matt Jackson defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi, Michael Elgin, and Yoshitatsu.
After the match, the Guerrillas of Destiny and Adam Page joined the other BC members in the ring. Taven asked where Adam Cole was… Kelly hyped Jay Lethal vs. Donovan Dijak for next week’s show…
Powell’s POV: An entertaining main event that would have benefitted from more pre-match storytelling. Still, the right trio went over given that the Bullet Club just ruined the pay-per-view main event. It is odd that they were all over this show, yet we didn’t hear anything from Jay Lethal or Colt Cabana. Overall, this was a better show than usual when it came to storytelling rather than just throwing out a bunch of seemingly random matches. It’s nice to have ROH airing first-run material again for the first time in well over a month. Dot Net Members will hear Haydn Gleed and Darren Gutteridge discuss the show in their returning audio review on Thursday or Friday.
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